The Steiner Aid

.The American Paratrooper: Executors of American foreign policy for the last 200-300 meters.

Probitas laudatur et alget - Juvenal

Sunday, January 30, 2005

The Wrong Side Of History

My condolences to all of you who didn't want to see the United States invade Iraq. Those of you who said that we were fighting an immoral war have my deepest sympathies right now.

It must be a real heart-break to you socialists who wanted all of those Arabs to continue living under the darkest of despair and the cruelest of oppression. You screeched and wailed, you protested and screamed; slander and lies were your weapons. You pulled out all the stops to keep your favorite Middle Eastern dictator in charge of Iraq; You did everything you could to keep those shredders running and those rape rooms occupied.

Yet it wasn't to be. Decency marched in wearing desert camoflauge and kevlar helmets; and saved the day.

The Iraqi people are using their newly-won voices today. Voices that have been muted for half a century. They are deciding who their own leaders will be. No, it will not be a perfect government to begin with. It will be flawed....and you will do your best to point these flaws out. But they will need to experience growth pains, they will need to make mistakes...that's how young democracies learn. We are well over two hundred years old and we are still learning so why wouldn't they make some mistakes. It's a learning process and it's an earning process. The dignity of freedom is not something that can be recieved from another...it must be earned. Ultimately the Iraqi people will have to work and work hard for that dignity; and they will achieve it! The coalition has provided them with a chance and they are using it to the fullest.

You nay-sayers are yet again on the wrong side of history. You value your own liberty, but begrudge it of others. As long as you fail to pull for the other guy when he is in trouble you will always be on the wrong side of history, and I feel sorry for you.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

More Than Remembering....

The following is reprinted here with the kind permission of IsraPundit

The Holocaust, symbolized by Auschwitz, the worst of the death camps, occurred in the wake of consistent, systematic, unrelenting anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. As a result, the elimination of the Jews from German society was accepted as axiomatic, leaving open only two questions: when and how.

As Germany expanded its domination and occupation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, the Low Countries, Yugoslavia, Poland, parts of the USSR, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Italy and others countries, the way was open for Hitler to realize his well-publicized plan of destroying the Jewish people.

After experimentation, the use of Zyklon B on unsuspecting victim was adopted by the Nazis as the means of choice, and Auschwitz was selected as the main factory of death (more accurately, one should refer to the “Auschwitz-Birkenau complex”). The green light for mass annihilation was given at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942, and the mass gassings took place in Auschwitz between 1942 and the end of 1944, when the Nazis retreated before the advancing Red Army. Jews were transported to Auschwitz from all over Nazi-occupied or Nazi-dominated Europe and most were slaughtered in Auschwitz upon arrival, sometimes as many as 12,000 in one day. Some victims were selected for slave labour or “medical” experimentation. All were subject to brutal treatment.

In all, between three and four million people, mostly Jews, but also Poles and Red Army POWs, were slaughtered in Auschwitz alone (though some authors put the number at 1.3 million). Other death camps were located at Sobibor, Chelmno, Belzec (Belzek), Majdanek and Treblinka.

Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, sixty years ago, after most of the prisoners were forced into a Death March westwards. The Red Army found in Auschwitz about 7,600 survivors, but not all could be saved.

For a long time, the Allies were well aware of the mass murder, but deliberately refused to bomb the camp or the railways leading to it. Ironically, during the Polish uprising, the Allies had no hesitation in flying aid to Warsaw, sometimes flying right over Auschwitz.

There are troubling parallels between the systematic vilification of Jews before the Holocaust and the current vilification of the Jewish people and Israel. Suffice it to note the annual flood of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN; or the public opinion polls taken in Europe, which single out Israel as a danger to world peace; or the divestment campaigns being waged in the US against Israel; or the attempts to delegitimize Israel’s very existence. The complicity of the Allies in WW II is mirrored by the support the PLO has been receiving from Europe, China and Russia to this very day.

If remembering Auschwitz should teach us anything, it is that we must all support Israel and the Jewish people against the vilification and the complicity we are witnessing, knowing where it inevitably leads.

I would also like to point out my profound sadness that the world has yet to learn from these great tragedies. We are still content to let people kill others simply because of their race, religion or creed.

We still allow dictators to hold evil sway over their people and neighbors...only to jump in at the last minute, if at all.

We are still content to leave others, less fortunate than ourselves, to their fate...until their fate inconveniences us.

And the root of our problem; we still strive for a world where we can live without ever referencing a loving God, content to leave our affairs in the hands of godless men even after we are shown time and time again what godless men are capable of.

I think this is the most tragic of all.

We must do more than remember these poor souls. We must do more than celebrate their perseverence and strength in the face of such adversity. We must take up the lessons they and their world learned the hard way and apply those lessons to our own lives lest we be doomed to revisit those horrors time and time and time again.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Why Is This News?

While reading this, a story about a top Al Qaeda lieutenant being captured in Iraq, about halfway down the column I see that the story abruptly switches tracks and starts relating the facts about some fatalities of a military accident in Iraq.

Is it news-worthy because there were American deaths or was it news-worthy because of where it happened? I highly doubt that the tragic deaths are news-worthy simply because there were tragic deaths involved. We never hear any national news items about Americans dying in accidents in London or Paris. I suspect that the accident's happening in Iraq was what made it news-worthy.

It is plain to see that this is yet another example of how the media manipulates our emotions by spoon-feeding us selected bits of data. What they say is that some soldiers died in an accident in Iraq.....our conditioned response is OH DEAR! MORE AMERICANS ARE DEAD IN IRAQ!!!

What a quagmire, huh?
Pretty tricky, but still not really news...except for their friends and family. Why don't the MSM show a little respect and stop using their deaths as political pawns? Yes, their deaths are tragic and regrettable, but the media attention lavished on those deaths are out of all proportion to the attention payed to Americans dying in accidents anywhere else in the world.

There is so much good being accomplished in that country right now that it boggles the mind how little is being disseminated to the American public. The MSM can't be bothered with it...they have dead soldiers to play politics with. History is going to judge the Main Stream Media harshly. They are the yellow journalists of the 21st century.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Winter

The snow has been coming down all morning, adding to the snow we have had all month. It's just piling up out there. According to the weather, it's supposed to keep on snowing into tomorrow. It's ten degrees out there right now, that means black ice.

I haven't been to bed yet and it's close to noon. The Bugg had to go into work early this morning so I stayed up all night and kept an eye on the weather, then when she left I found that I couldn't, wouldn't rest easy until she was home again. She'll be home soon, God willing, and I will take a nap.

Being a Michigander, I normally don't worry so much during a snowfall. I never did. That is, I never did until The Bugg got in a wreck a few winters ago. She lost control on some black ice on the freeway and the driver's side of the cab was ripped open; she found her spectacles lying on the median fifty feet from the truck. I've carried more gray hairs in my wig since that day and now I'm a regular old granny every time she has to go out in the snow; my knees get weak thinking about it.

I don't think I've ever driven in a snow that worried me. I guess it's just my not being there when she goes out alone that bothers me.

I know that God is watching over her. I also know that it isn't right for me to worry. I try not to, but I do. Sometimes. I guess it's a weakness. I guess it's every man's weakness; his family.

And don't get me wrong, I love the snow. I love the snow as only a northerner can love snow. It's the senile uncle who comes to see you a few times a year. He's sometimes a bother but he is familiar and he completes your life experience. I sometimes feel sorry for those in other parts of the nation who don't have the opportunity to know snow the way we northerners know it.

What is more soothing than to walk the forest during a snowfall, especially after dark? Ever notice how warm it can seem during a snowfall? And the quiet....it really isn't quite quiet. Nothing stirs except the rustling of the tree branches. It gets so quiet that you can hear every flake impact the ground. Once you locate that sound, it becomes all encompassing. You become conscious of nothing else.

Sometimes, while out shoveling snow, I just stand there and listen to it. Those sounds make Winter in Michigan special. In the Summer, it's the ciccadas, crickets and frogs. In the Autumn, it's the chill breeze carrying the scent of the harvest through the air and causing the red, orange and yellow leaves to skitter across the ground like crabs. But in winter....winter it's the sound of zillions of little flakes, no two alike, collecting on the hard, frozen ground; waiting for children to play in it.....and adults to drive in it.

(The following is an urgent prayer request from a Army Baptist Chaplin in Iraq. I'm am sure you will be moved by this request even if you do not personally know anyone involved. Thank you in advance for your faithful prayers in this matter.)

As a transportation battalion, my unit will be delivering the voting machines and the ballots to villages and cities throughout Iraq during the upcoming elections. (January 30/31) Our convoys are prime targets for the insurgents because they do not want the equipment to arrive at the polling stations nor do they want the local Iraqi citizens to have the chance to vote; timely delivery must occur so that the elections occur. Encourage your friends and family members and those within our churches to pray specifically for the electoral process. Historically, the previous totalitarian regime would not allow individual citizens to vote. Democracy will not be realized in Iraq if intelligent and competent officials are not elected to those strategic leadership positions within the emerging government; freedom will not have an opportunity to ring throughout this country if the voting process fails.

Announce this prayer request to your contacts throughout your churches, neighborhoods, and places of business. Those with leadership roles within the local church post this message in as many newsletters and bulletins as possible. There is unlimited potential for God's presence in this process but if we do not pray then our enemy will prevail (See Ephesians 6:10-17) A prayer vigil prior to the end of the month may be an innovative opportunity for those within your sphere of influence to pray. This is a political battle that needs spiritual intervention. A powerful story about God's intervention in the lives of David's mighty men is recorded in 2 Samuel 23:8-33. David and his warriors were victorious because of God's intervention. We want to overcome those who would stand in the way of freedom. David's mighty men triumphed over incredible odds and stood their ground and were victorious over the enemies of Israel. (Iraqi insurgents' vs God's praying people). They don't stand a chance.

I will pray with my soldiers before they leave on their convoys and move outside our installation gates here at Tallil. My soldiers are at the nerve center of the logistic operation to deliver the voting machines and election ballots. They will be driving to and entering the arena of the enemy. This is not a game for them it is a historical mission that is extremely dangerous. No voting machines or ballots. No elections. Your prayer support and God's intervention are needed to give democracy a chance in this war torn country. Thank you for reading this e-mail. Please give this e-mail a wide dissemination.

Thank you for your prayer support for me and my family. Stand firm in your battles.

Just Stuff

Nothing much going on here at the moment as far as it affects me. My sister, on the other hand, totaled her new car. She has a cracked rib which I am sure is quite painful, but other than that everything is fine. We thank the Lord for that.

I've been out in the cold trying to get her old car running...the hardest part was just getting the hood up! It's so cold that it was frozen solid.

We had a poker party this last weekend. My brother and some of our old friends were over, one of which I had not talked to since my wedding day ten years ago. No great sums changed hands as it was merely nickle-dime stuff with a fifty cent ante. I still had a couple of nickles when the evening was concluded. Lot's of laughs were had by all.

I've also been hearing alot of how Indonesia is asking our aidworkers and military to leave their country as soon as possible. How cheeky! They might as well say "Hurry up and give us the stuff and get the hell out!"

Part of me wants to see us just take our ball and go home....let them try and get through their troubles without the benefit of any help from us "Stingy Americans."

But then, we aren't there to be popular. We are there because it's the right thing to do. We are there because nobody else can provide the kind of help that we stingy Americans can provide. People are in dire trouble over there and it wouldn't be right to sit back and let them suffer because their misguided and foolish government is trying to hedge it's bets. We are also there because it's in our best interest to help. An unstable Asia is something that we do not need right now....it's strategically advantageous for us to swallow our pride and do our best to help.

We are Americans, that's what we do; we help those who need it. For better or for worse, we do what needs to be done...or at least try. If it wins us no friends in the long run, so be it. Heal them up now....and kick the hell out of them later. We are Americans, your best friend or your worst nightmare.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

A Bastion Of Truth?

A Georgia school district has been ordered, by a judge, that it must remove stickers from it's science textbooks which remind the students that Evolution is a theory and should be studied with an open mind.

What in the world is wrong with calling the theory of evolution a theory? That is exactly what it is....a theory; no matter how many teachers forego the opportunity to apprise their pupils of the fact.

The stickers were ordered removed from textbooks because of complaints that the reminders were pushing a religious objective. Creationism is unacceptable to some people, yet they readily embrace evolution which is even less provable, scientifically speaking. It might even be said that evolution has to be taken on faith. If so, are the complaining parties merely trading one religion for another?

What it all boils down to is that a very vocal minority is trying to impose it's own belief system on the silent majority. They are enlightened...smarter than the rest of us. therefore they know best what our children should be taught. If that means masking the theory of evolution as fact and gagging anyone who attempts to remind us that it is only a theory, then so be it!

Children used to attend school to learn facts....truths. So they could think and reason analytically. Now they are spoon fed only approved ideas....the rest is avoided at the terrible cost of integrity.

Monday, January 10, 2005

NEEDED: Stencils Shaped Like Journalists

Chalk another four up for the bloggers! You just know that when bloggers are able to root out the truth and cause the heads of four media executives to roll that they are a force to be reconed with. Start minding your P's and Q's, main stream....there's a new sheriff in town!

Friday, January 07, 2005

The German Shepard

The lil Mrs. goes out last night to get some things at the store and she comes back with a German Shepard pup. This thing is as big as a shetland pony and was obviously well groomed. Somebody loved this beautiful animal but the wife nearly hit it with the truck out on the dark snowy road.....so it came home with her, natch!

I freaked at first, but then realized she was right...she couldn't just leave it out running these unlit backroads. That's how our Black Lab was killed.

I did warn her however that she shouldn't get attached as it was obviously a purebred and therefore a very expensive pup....not something the owner is going to shrug off.

Aside from a few icecicles clinging to his fur, he didn't show signs of being outside very long. As a matter of fact he didn't even have that German Shepard smell! He was an inside dog and pretty well pampered.

I do admit that I took to him myself, which is unusual. I don't usually cotton to other people's dogs. And that deep, sonorous woofing he let out in the middle of the night when he heard something outside was very comforting. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I was halfway hoping we wouldn't be able to find the owner, then we could name him and take him in as one of the family.

But that was not to be. We went and hung out signs this afternoon on street corners and at the local grocery stores and gas stations stating we had found a German Shepard. As soon as we get back, an excited sounding man calls up asking if the dog was a male with a red collar. We said yes and he was over in 5 minutes to pick up his baby. He was very happy and turned a bit white when the wife explained that she almost hit him in the dark. He then explained that he had let the dog out to do it's business after dark when it just kept on going and wouldn't answer his calls.

I'm glad the fellow got his dog back. He really was a beautiful and good natured pup. Now Ronnie wants to know why his doggie had to go! I guess I see a new puppy somewhere in the near future. Good thing the in-laws breed German Shepards!LOL.

Monday, January 03, 2005

Time For A New Hat

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Happy New Year

I trust everyone had a pleasant night and managed to avoid all of the drunken drivers who plague our roads.

I watched the Three Stooges marathon on American Movie Classics with my son. I wish I could somehow play a recording of his laughter for you on this blog. I laughed all evening just because he was laughing.....it's really quite contagious. Anything very silly will get him giggling uncontrollably, the Tong war scene in Buster Keaton's The Cameraman or the fire ladder scene in It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world for example.

Afterwards the Bugg and I listened to the cacophonious amalgam of gunfire and fireworks that rings in the new year in these parts. It quit literally sounds like a very large firefight going on in the distance.